Cracks appeared across his body. Blue steam gushed out and his mana bar plummeted along with his health. Another crack cost him a life. More steam blasted the open air in a constant burst a twin to the one before. Red energy stretched to plug the hole, but the constant stream was too much for it. Nero’s body was grinding into itself. Mystical integrity was shifting and for a second, he thought it would be ok, only for it to slam into regeneration. Two skills smashed into each other, Nero shook, and something fell off track.

Time was of the essence. Nero was filling with holes and couldn’t contain the shear energy coursing through his body. Going from 365Mp to 48.4k had that effect. His blood shield was a lid on a volcano eventually the pressure would be too much for it. It was his body or his lack of vitality. He needed a ton of the stuff and soon or he’d die. That was a fact. Blood shield could only contain the pressure for so long.

In the corner of his eye he saw Arturia the centaur, he’d planned to use her to gain village access. It was a plan that didn’t quite fit in with his current situation, he might die. The thought didn’t fill him with any sense of loss or pain. Perhaps, he was the one who thought this was a sweet dream before his mind turned out the lights. It would make sense, maybe this was it the last spark of light before he shut down completely. He threw that thought aside as unhelpful.

Regeneration continued to slam into Mystical Integrity. They were two skills that didn’t fit. He thought that if anything it would be a mana-based skill that interfered with each other. That wasn’t the case maybe the mana resource in his body was too vast to require a fight. Instead the two skills fought over his body. He’d thought Mystical Integrity would win out automatically because of the high level. That wasn’t the case either.

He checked his phone. Even while his body was disintegrating under his own mana, he still had time to check his phone. The answer he saw was surprising.

Regeneration was mutating. It would still be five minutes before the skill finished its mutation. Apparently, it saw the chance to attach itself to the largest resource. That might be where the clash was coming from. Mystical Integrity didn’t want to give up its resource to regeneration. They were fighting over the energy about to rip apart his body with the ferocity of rabid dogs. Each bought cracked him a little more. It was his skin that tore open and burnt blood and mana poured out.

Lives 3/6

It was all the pain of being burned alive slowly with the added bonus of being whipped. Fun stuff really, he could only watch the skill slowly mutate to use mana. Then he felt a drop in the pain. The rabid dogs finally recognized their own. They were still rabid and uncontrollable; they were a pack now.

Mystical Regeneration I lvl2 – Mystical regeneration gathers mana from the air and body to regenerate flesh. The user must stand still to gather mana and heal. If health is full mana this skill will gather mana. VIT skill

Skill Stipulation: Stand Still

MP Cost: 10k

MP Regen Rate: 1 x Skill lv x MAG

HP Regen Rate: (MP/10k) x skill lv x VIT

Nero froze himself and felt his body recover. The cracks healed when he stood in one place. It was the second he took a step that they returned with vengeance. A single step took out 100HP. Two seconds and about 90% of his HP was gone. That was the price for gaining this monstrous power. There there was the updates.

Congratulations your MAG has increased beyond 100

New skill: Mana Circuits I lvl1 – The powerlines of mana that stretch through the user’s body. Every level in this skill increases the number of circuits in the wielders body. Warning more circuits may increase wielder’s size. Magic Skill

MP Increased: (skill lvl x 10)

MP Regen: (100 x skill lvl)

Do you accept this skill y/n?

Congratulations your MAG has increased beyond 1000

New Skill: Mana Core I lvl1 – A nuclear powerplant but for mana. Produces vast amounts of mana higher levels increases the density of the core. Magic skill

MP Increased: skill lvl x 100

MP Regen: (1000 x skill lv)

Do you accept this skill y/n?

Nero put that choice on hold for now. If he increased his MP by 1100 it would multiply by his MAG stat and he might explode. No, he needed to gain a handle on his current power.

The centauress stood away from him but hadn’t left through his ordeal. Cast in sunlight Arturia had stood vigilant through his pain. The soft glow made her tan skin shine with soft beads of sweat. He hadn’t noticed the sword strapped to her side before or its frayed handle. A leather bra peaked through her blue shirt along with silvery patches of chainmail woven together with the blue cloth. Her clothes were soaked to the bone with sweat.

Nero took a step and counted to two. In the breath midst of his second second he’d crossed half the distance and froze to recover. It was an intense game of red-light green light. He was the only player and if he lost, he died. The Mystical regeneration bar had filled completely, and it leveled up.

Mystical Regeneration lvl3

He stared at the centaur. This close he could meet her blue eyes. Deep sapphire pools a hair larger than human eyes studied him. There was no gentle gratitude or thankful expression. Nero saw the calculating eyes of someone who knew the game. That made him smile big enough to hurt his cheeks.

“I’m Nero a traveler from far away. I’ve come to visit your village.” She turned her head to the still cooling corpse and looked back at him.

“Your ears are round, your eyes are tiny, and you smell like Tyranoroid spit, why should I take you anywhere?” She said and folded her arms. He took another step and her hand quickly went to her sword.

“You seemed willingly to carry me before. What’s changed?” Nero asked.

“Before you hadn’t slain Terra daughter of Tyrant Rex. The village can ill afford to grant you sanctuary. You can’t even move without hurting yourself.” Nero turned back to the corpse. It was dried out with bones sticking out of it in odd places. World’s Breaker must have a backlash if interrupted.

“How will they know I killed her?” Nero asked.

“If you ever use World’s Breaker their spies will inform them.” Arturia said.

“How did you know I had the skill?” Nero asked.

“I saw the skill transfer over. It was hard to miss. Thank you for saving me but I can’t risk bringing you back to the village. We can’t harbor the murderer of the Tyrant Rex’s daughter.” Artuaria said.

“You know she would have eaten you. I think I deserve more than a thank you.” Nero said.

Arturia nodded her head and turned around. Her tail hike up and revealing what laid beneath. She spread her legs out and pissed on the spot. Her round donut hole quenched, and her tear drop winked at him. It was solid black, well groomed, and thick. Feelings welled up inside of him some of them familiar while others weren’t. Phantoms whispered wrong and sin in his ears. When she winked at him, he heard the wet pop of an uncorked champagne bottle. A slight wetness ran over from her thumb sized clit.

Nero was lost for words at the strangeness of the situation. Then it hit him. Monsters were originally human or possibly came from humans. This might not be that weird. Ok, it was still fucking weird.

“What are you doing?” Nero shouted.

“You wanted a reward and all I have is my body. The gold in my purse is needed for this month’s tithes. Hurry and pleasure yourself with me so I can be on my way.” Arturia said. Nero blinked and blinked again.

“No, I don’t think I’m going to do that. Let’s make a deal, I promise not to use world’s breaker and you lower your tail and lead me to your village.” Nero said.

“I’m taking more risk than you. Its my village on the line. Wouldn’t you rather have my body. I can’t roll on my back as you two legs prefer, but I can lay down. Would that be acceptable?” Arturia said.

“Have some respect for yourself. I don’t want it and you wouldn’t be able to feel it anyway.” Nero said. She snorted. “What?”

“Nothing, you insult me and then you demand I and my people bare all the risk upon your word. Everything is fine?” Arturia said.

“I’m sorry that wasn’t fair. What would I need to do to balance the scales? I don’t regret saving you.” That was a load of horse shit. He should have left her to die and been on his way. Killing her was still an option but he was beginning to like her. What was his problem with violent woman?

She turned her head away and and lowered her tail. Nero rolled his shoulders and took a step forward. He placed a hand on her side and rubbed the dust out of her coat.

“Were you scared?” His ears didn’t twitch with the sound of an unsheathing blade so he might have been on the right track. “I’ve been fighting for the last couple of days. It’s like under every rock and atop every tree is a massive beast is waiting to gobble me up. My words were chosen poorly.” He picked up a stone and tossed it. The rock soared through the air before smashing through a tree and splintering the side of it. It would take some time to get used to his new ATK. He turned back to Arturia.

“We’ve just met, and I don’t feel right taking advantage of you. Where I’m from men and women get to know one another before mating. As for your village, I’ll do what I can to help.” Nero said.

“We need to leave this area. A member of the Tyranoroid family will investigate soon. Get on my back its best if your scent is blocked by my own.” Arturia let out a sigh. “My name is Arturia and I’m a Squire of the knight Lanceon of Canterlot.” Nero nodded and placed a hand on her back before leaping on. He froze the second he activated cling the second he landed, and she took off.